Cal sends Waves crashing

With Allen Crabbe pouring in a career-high 33 points, Cal had little trouble taming the Waves of Pepperdine in a 79-62A victory Tuesday night at Haas Pavilion.

The win enabled the Bears to start the season 2-0 before hitting the road for three weeks with single games at the University of Denver and Wisconsin and a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in Anaheim (Orange County).

A three-point shot with 6:23 left in the game gave Crabbe 31 points, one more than his previous high from his freshman season two years ago, and it also increased Cal’s lead to 70-52.

Also prolific for the Bears was guard Justin Cobbs, who ably supported Crabbe with 23 points, 18 in the first half.

Pepperdine hung around long enough and did enough good things to make this a five-point game at 40-35 early in the first half, at which point the Bears went on an 11-4 run to make the score a little more comfortable.

Anytime the Bears can get an offensive contribution from Bak Bak it’s a bonus. Midway through the second half Cobbs drove the lane, fed him the ball and the 6-foot-9 forward scored and was fouled. His three-point play gave the Bears a 60-48 lead.

A surge of eight points in a span of little more than two minutes by Crabbe enabled the Bears to stretch out to 51-39 in the second half but Pepperdine guard Lorne Jackson responded with a trey of his own to keep the Waves within striking distance at 51-42.

The game got uncomfortably close when the Waves cut Cal’s lead to 29-26 on a three-point shot by Jackson in the final minutes of the half. But the Bears closed with a rush on a dunk and three-point shot by Crabbe and a layup at the buzzer by Cobbs as he finished a prolific half with 18 points.

At the break Cal’s lead was back to 10 at 36-26.

The first half saw the Cal debut of Missouri transfer Ricky Kreklow, a 6-foot-6 sophomore capable of playing in the backcourt or on the wing. He played nine minutes in the half and had three points, three rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Kreklow had foot surgery in October that set him back after he sat out 2011-12 on the transfer rule. In his limited time on court in the half he looked capable of handling the ball as well as searching out rebounds. He finished the game with three points, four rebounds and two assists.

A pair of free throws by Crabbe pushed Cal’s lead in the first half to 10 at 27-17 with 8:13 before the break. At this point, Cobbs had pumped in 16 points for the Bears as he looked comfortable with his shot from just about any spot in the half-court offense.

Briefly: This was Cal’s last home game until Dec. 9, when UNLV comes to Haas Pavilion. That game and a Dec. 15 game at Haas against Creighton will be free to Cal students. … Pepperdine had players on its roster from Norway, Nigeria, Germany and Trinidad.

John Crumpacker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jcrumpacker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @crumpackeroncal